


nightmares

by merdwx



Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: AU, Ben - Freeform, M/M, MxM - Freeform, Newt - Freeform, The Maze Runner - Freeform, Thomas - Freeform, benho - Freeform, minho - Freeform, minho just needs a hug ok, newtmas - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-11
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-22 09:41:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22214086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/merdwx/pseuds/merdwx
Summary: au; minho's life after he's forced to banish ben
Relationships: Ben & Minho (Maze Runner), Ben/Minho (Maze Runner), Minho/Newt (Maze Runner), Minho/Newt/Thomas (Maze Runner), Minho/Thomas (Maze Runner), Newt/Thomas (Maze Runner)
Comments: 9
Kudos: 32





	nightmares

**Author's Note:**

  * For [NewtonSangster](https://archiveofourown.org/users/NewtonSangster/gifts), [mxrrynxwtmas](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mxrrynxwtmas/gifts).



Minho leaned his head against the cold, stone wall, sighing softly. Behind him he could hear the Gladers leaving quickly, the soles of their damaged shoes tapping against the stone flooring before fading into the grass. Someone was staring at him. 

He turned around, seeing the Greenie stare at him. Thomas. In his face was confusion and pain visible underneath the obvious initial shock. And maybe some astonishment. 

Breathing in deeply one more time, Minho walked away.

That night, Gally took his name off the wall. Newt had told him to stay away, but Minho watched. He figured it might help. It didn’t. 

-

As they say, life goes on. He had to tell Newt repeatedly that he was fine before the shank eventually gave up on trying to talk to him about it. It was crazy how much Newt thought he needed an entire funeral. Of course he didn’t. He was fine. At least, he pretended to be, so that meant he would be eventually. 

Right? 

-

The months after that went by faster than expected. The Greenbean, Thomas, found them a way out of the Maze within a few days. Minho decided to respect him, despite the fact that he had taken over  _ his _ harness. 

-

“Go! Get out of here! Go!”

“Minho let’s go!”

Guards and gunshots surrounded him everywhere, spreading chaos wherever they went. He could call himself lucky for not getting shot yet.

He raised his gun, taking down another guard approaching him. The adrenaline pumping through him drove out the guilt he would’ve felt in any other situation. Another one..

Then, nothing. His gun didn’t fire any bullets anymore, he was out. 

In a split second, he looked from the gun towards the guard, realization dawning over him. Then, a white flash and terrible pain. He fell back on a box filled with supplies, looking up at his friends hiding behind another one. He heard someone call out his name, but was frozen, held in his place by the pain of the electricity. 

More yelling. His friends running towards him, getting stopped by Jorge, who managed to pull them back and fire more shots at other guards. 

He knew the pain had taken over his face, but felt it go numb as the guards lifted him up, taking him far, far away, as the sounds grew softer and the lights dimmed.

-

The first time he woke up, everything was bright. Squinting his eyes, he realized he was not really anywhere. Just somewhere, in a place with no actual location. He wasn’t outside or inside, just  _ somewhere.  _ He might’ve been in a room. Or maybe this was heaven. 

He smiled.  _ Heaven.  _ No way. 

He was at peace. A suspicious feeling, he hadn’t felt it in a very long time. Maybe ever. 

“Why did you do it?”

Minho froze. Of course. He was never allowed a minute of peace, not even in this weird, soft-looking place. Of course he had to start hearing voices. Why not?

“Minho.”

He turned around slowly, facing the source of the sound. If he was going to be stuck here, might as well do something. 

Ben. 

So he  _ was  _ dead. Although, why would he be here? If there was one thing that they’d always agreed on, it was that Ben would go to heaven, not Minho. So there was no reason for them to be in the same place. 

“Ben,” he said, shocked at how soft his voice sounded. It hadn’t sounded like that in a very long time. 

“Why?” Ben simply asked, no further explanation, but Minho understood. It hurt. 

“I’m sorry,” he whispered. Although sincere, that answer didn’t seem to please Ben. His face grew darker and he stepped closer, towering over Minho threateningly. Minho stepped back in shock. Ben stepped forward. 

“You could’ve saved me. It was all your fault.”

“Ben, I-”

“You did this to me!”

Minho blinked. “No, I-”

“You killed me.” 

The world turned black, cutting off all sound he previously heard. Then, he woke up in a maze. 

-

Waking up was a long and difficult process. 

“Is this real?”

Yes, they assured him. This is real. They smiled, happy to see him, but Minho was doubtful still. This wasn’t the first time they reunited. 

-

He knew it was another test, another nightmare, when he ran between the burning buildings, coming to a halt next to Newt’s body. Thomas sat by him, crying, telling Minho  _ I’m sorry  _ with his eyes. He left.

Minho limped forward, kneeling down next to Newt, completely defeated - a feeling he knew very well by now. Frypan sank down next to him. Behind him, he heard Brenda sob. 

He waited and  _ waited _ for one of them to look at him and blame him. For him to be shocked, and for the world to turn black again. 

When they lost Teresa and flew away from a burning city, he looked at Thomas, at his open wound and his nearly lifeless face, and realized it wasn’t another nightmare.

-

Days by the Safe Haven passed by a little more quickly when Thomas joined them again. Now that they were all the other had, they spent pretty much every day together. No one bothered them, just their grief and nightmares. Eventually, it got better. 

They moved into a hut together, considering only the two of them spent time together nowadays. It took a long time for them to talk though, and an even longer time for them to be able to help each other. 

He couldn’t replace Newt, he never would. But Minho also knew that  _ he  _ couldn’t replace what Newt was to Thomas, and maybe that’s why they worked together so well. There were rumours going around that they were a couple, which they both laughed about often. It was one of their sources of joy. Deep down, though, Minho knew they laughed for other reasons as well. He laughed because he knew he would never be able to fall in love again. He wasn’t sure why Thomas laughed, but he had a suspicion that it was for the same reason. 

-

Thomas passed away before him. Of course he did. And to be honest, Minho understood why. His losses were so big, he figured it was only a matter of time before they would be reunited. 

He spoke at his funeral with a steady voice, a sense of doom coming over him, but somehow, it wasn’t unpleasant. He had accepted it a long time ago. 

Joking about how Thomas probably died of shame because he got grey hair before Minho, he finished his speech on a happy note. The people laughed. He smiled. On his own this time. But not for long. 

As he returned to his little hut, he felt a storm rise up. He chuckled for no reason. 

He laid down on his bed that night, feeling grief wash over him before being replaced with calmness. He was ready. 

-

“Well, never expected to end up  _ here _ .” 

He walked through the meadow with a surprisingly fast pace. He knew what to do, he’d realized it a long time ago.

People greeted him on the way, looking insanely young. He knew he must stand out and was only waiting for Newt to show up and tell him he didn’t age well. 

He walked on the street with a rush of confidence coming over him. For some reason, Death decided to be nice to him and take away all the anxiety when he died. He should thank someone for that. 

Glancing into a window of a little house, he was met by the sight of a surprisingly young face. He grinned, not even surprised. He hadn’t seen this version of himself for a very long time. 

“Minho!”

He turned, still grinning. A blond, young Newt was walking towards him quickly, no limp visible. He held hands with a younger version of Thomas. God, he forgot he used to have such a baby-face. 

“Good to see you,” he said before turning to Thomas. “Pity they didn’t make you more handsome when they aged you down. You could use it.”

“Slim it,” Thomas said. “You weren’t the most attractive either, I just remembered.” 

“Not true! I had people falling for me left and right, didn’t I, Newt?”

“You did.”

Minho turned around quickly. “Wha-”

Ben grinned at him, the sun falling on his blond hair. Next to him stood two girls, a tall brunette and a shorter, blonde girl. 

“Well, I see you’re doing pretty well yourself,” he replied, regaining himself. 

“Oh, no! These are just my friends. They’ve been here for centuries.”

Minho smiled, relieved. Behind them, Newt coughed loudly, but Minho ignored him. 

The blonde spoke up boldly. “I’m Hayley, this is Ari,” she said with an accent he couldn’t quite place. “And you’re Minho.”

“We’ve heard a lot about you,” the other girl added, raising an eyebrow at Ben.

“You’ve been talking about me?” Minho said, fake-surprised. 

“Only negatively,” another girl said, that showed up from behind Ben. “Come on, let’s go,” she said to the two girls, after which they all disappeared. 

“Negatively, hm?” Minho asked.

“Shut up.”

-

“You look different.” 

“In a good way?”

“I’ll have to think about that.”

Minho laughed. “Good that.”

They were quiet for a while, just staring at each other, smiling softly. It was completely quiet in their room, and everywhere else as well. Minho loved that heaven was soundproof. Privacy had become more and more important to him over the years, as noises and big crowds made him anxious. 

He had been talking to everyone all day until Ben pulled him away from the crowd and showed him his house. Since then, they’d just been laying on the bed, speaking and laughing softly. 

Minho was about to make a joke to break the silence when Ben whispered: “How old did you become?”

Minho averted his gaze for a second, calculating. Then, he met Ben’s eyes again. 

“I’m not sure. I lived in the Safe Haven for around sixty-five years, but I don’t know how old I was in the Maze.” 

Ben nodded. “Sixty-five years… it feels like it’s only been a few months.”

“Is that how ageing works here?”

“I guess. It’s more like there’s no time here. Everything just kind of happens. Days are slowed down a lot,” Ben replied. “Newt showed up here only two days after I did, I must admit it was quite shocking to hear that almost a year had passed.”

“So you don’t age?”

“I’m not sure. I don’t think so. I’ve made friends from centuries ago that haven’t aged a day. I guess you stay a teenager.”

Minho raised up his arms, looking at them with a smile. “Not gonna lie, I like having them completely wrinkle-free.”

“God, I can’t even imagine you with wrinkles. I’m sure you didn’t age well.”

“Hey!”

Ben laughed loudly, his shoulders shaking. After a few seconds of trying to look offended, Minho started laughing as well. Then, because the gods just seemed to hate him, he got the hiccups, and normal laughing turned into Ben laughing  _ at  _ him hysterically, and Minho trying to look angry while hiccuping and laughing simultaneously. 

“You idiot. I hate you,” he said in between hiccups. 

“You know you love me.”

“I hate you!”

“Love me.”

“Hate you!”

“Love me.” 

Minho grabbed a pillow and tried to hit him with it, but Ben saw it coming and rolled away just in time. 

“You hurt the mattress,” he said, wiping away a tear before laughing again. 

“Oh, slim it.” 

“Make me.”

“I won’t say no to that.” 

And then he smirked, throwing the pillow back on the mattress before pulling Ben in for their first kiss in over sixty-five years. 

**Author's Note:**

> to the loves of my life, hayley and ari. yall asked for it and i provided it. love u


End file.
